Fender Pugilist Distortion

108
Guitarist June 2018
Tech Spec
ORIGIN: China
TYPE: Distortion pedal
FEATURES: True bypass
CONTROLS: Tone A, Gain
A, Tone B, Gain B, Blend,
Level, Series/Blend
switch, Bass Boost switch,
LEDs On/Off switch,
Bypass footswitch
CONNECTIONS:
Standard input,
standard output
POWER: 9V battery or 9V
DC adapter (not supplied)
88mA
DIMENSIONS: 100 (w) x
125 (d) x 62mm (h)
9
Pugilist Distortion
£87
B
ecause it’s called the Pugilist
you might expect it to deliver
brutal distortion, but while it
can definitely do that there’s a subtler
side to this pedal. What it offers are
dual gain engines (A and B) linked
to a Blend knob so you can have
100 per cent A or B or a mix of both.
This is a brilliant feature as there’s a
wide variation of tone available from
blending the two channels especially
as each has its own adjustable Gain
and Tone.
Channel A offers a slightly milder
distortion than B so you can use a
touch of A with brightened tone
to add clarity and pick attack to
the saturated sound of B or have
a mixture of both reminiscent of
playing through two amps. You can
also choose to run the two engines
in series where full-on high-gain
sound with rich harmonics is pretty
much guaranteed. The Pugilist is also
capable of raunchy overdrive at lower
levels of gain.
VERDICT Providing plenty of variation
on the distortion/drive theme, a pedal
with two engines at this price is a steal
T
his year’s NAMM show
proved fruitful for Fender
pedals as they launched six
new options and look to
be developing more through a team
headed up by designer Stan Cotey.
This issue we look at three of the
designs, which all follow the same
rugged format featuring a curvy
anodised aluminium top complete
with metallic sheen. All run from a
battery or a 9V power adapter and
feature an easy battery change with
a magnetically latched hinged flap at
the end that simply pulls down and
flips back when you let go. Another
innovation is the use of a lightpipe
in the knobs, in combination with a
blue LED, so you can see where the
knob is set when on a darkened stage.
Thoughtfully, though, this feature
can be switched off if you find it
distracting. Another cool feature is
offset input and output jacks allowing
closer spacing of pedals so your plugs
aren’t butting up against each other
when the pedals are side by side.
PEDALBOARD
MANUFACTURER
FENDER
MODEL
VARIOUS
PRICE
FROM £87
CO N TAC T
01342 331700/WWW.FENDER.COM
Fender pedals
Fender
Distortion, reverb and delay
for your delectation
Words Trevor Curwen Photography Phil Barker
GIT433.peds_fender.indd 108 17/04/2018 13:44